All hearts
by Northernryu
Summary: Naruto&Sasuke story. It all starts with just a guy preventing another from shop lifting. A normal, well educated boy and a punk street kid who lives free like a stray cat. Their heart connects with a strong bond until they are faced with an end to that...
1. Part 1

**Update AN: Hi. Those of you who remember this and came back to reread, I've rewritten and re-edited a few things.  
So it might not be how you remember the story to be, but thanks for coming back to read it, and thanks to those who've come to read this story!  
Hope you all enjoy reading~!**

Disclaimer: The characters of Naruto and settings are all owned by Masashi Kishimoto not me.

* * *

_Every heart is a valuable source of life which is the one thing that will never betray you and will be by your side forever till the very end.  
It will always be there to help you feel happiness and pain, sorrow and excitement.  
If you live without that, you're missing out on a lot.  
If you've forgotten you have a heart and begin to wonder the meaning of life, don't let it bother you because you will definitely have one that can return to your side and someone will definitely come to remind you that.  
Every heart in this world is meant to live.  
Every heart is worth existing and participating in this world as an individual.  
Every heart is unique and special, no exceptions.  
So... that means yours as well.  
Your heart was meant to live, Naruto...  
And I..._

* * *

**All Hearts**

**Part 1**

* * *

"I'm meant to die..." 18 year-old Sasuke groaned under his breath.  
Another blazing hot, life-sucking sunlight draping heavily across the Konoha village in this overwhelming summer season.  
The streets of the village streaked upwards in a slight slope that was nothing of concern if it were any other season except the _bloody hot summer_, draining every ounce of energy of the people walking upwards and currently being fried alive.

Most decided they'd like to live long and kept themselves shut inside with buddies called air conditioners but Sasuke, who took tiring steps up the sloping street in this blinding orange evening, had no choice since it was the only way home.

His white shirt was glued onto his back from the steaming humid weather, so hot that the dirt-brown and dry streets of the Konoha were steaming, causing a faint mirage in some distance ahead.  
Some of that evil glue named sweat was also making itself known upon the bangs that framed his face... or rather annoyingly plastered across his facial sides, and the fact that his hair was jet black wasn't helping at all as all sunlight seemed to concentrate there, giving him a slight migraine.

Just when Sasuke lifted his arm to wipe that trickling bead of sweat off his forehead, a blur of what presumably was to be a person in a great rush, suddenly appeared out of nowhere to bump strongly against his shoulder.  
The force threw half of Sasuke backwards, but he smoothly resumed his balance with a sigh when he heard a maniac laugh from behind, from the guy who was running away after bumping into him.  
If he didn't hear the shopkeeper bellow at the top of his lungs, he was sure that the maniac laugh was meant to be for him.

"_HEY! COME BACK HERE, YOU THIEF!_"

Looking back, Sasuke saw the so-called thief running away so fast that dust was forming after his dashing steps. A thief was no concern to Sasuke since it was a regular basis thing you come across every now and then in this village as well as the fact that it wasn't stolen jewelry or people's property.  
This one was just a convenience store that trashes heck of a lot of bento boxes and breads if they don't sell before expiry dates.  
A few stolen food from a shop wasn't worth Sasuke to be the courageous hero and run after the thief, especially when he himself was suffering under this heat which actually made Sasuke surprised to see that thief full of energy, running so fast in this weather.

But when he heard the shopkeeper mutter something under his breath, Sasuke sighed and decided that he wasn't going to be able to ignore this.

"This is the 10th time that kid's stolen food from my shop!"

Jumping onto one of the roofs of the aligned houses on either side of the main village street where he had the best view of the thief's whereabouts, Sasuke scanned across the village's main pathway he had been walking on to find the target which wasn't hard to do.  
What made the thief so easy to identify among the crowds was due to the bright blond hair he owned, like a sun traveling in the night sky of dark-haired people in town and the shadows of the houses that was slowly creeping, making its way towards the center of the street and trying start dominating the village with its darkness.

The distance of the moving target didn't falter Sasuke's extreme eye sights that was able to see details of the blond's outfit.  
The clothes he wore were like a street gang's with a bandanna, baggy worn jeans and a simple sleeveless shirt. Over that he had some wrist bands on either side and wore other accessories of that sort so Sasuke wasn't going to be surprised if this blond was going through places like this to meet his gang mates who were equally causing crimes, nicking stuff here and there.

At last when Sasuke managed to catch up, there were less and less people around since it was well past the time of shops closing and everyone returning home.  
The spiky blond sun slowed down before snapping his direction, stepping into the shadows of a suspicious dark alley way.  
Not wanting to get himself into any bothersome trouble, Sasuke decided to not jump down but instead, onto the next rooftop in order to have a clear visual sight of the alley below and observe from a birds eye point of view.

What Sasuke saw widened his eyes in shock.  
Never had he dreamed of this possibility, but here the guy was, giving the bread he stole to two toddlers who, by the looks of it, were definitely ones without a home or refuge that any one would've guessed correctly.

"Here, this is the bread for today," the thief said in a kind tone, totally killing the image of what Sasuke had assumed him to be. He was expecting a rough, mean voice that didn't have the word 'kindness' in his dictionary.

"Thank you onii-chan," the two kids chimed in unison like well-behaving preschool children. The old tattered clothes were starting to get spotted with crumbs as well as the crumbs hanging on the side of one's mouth and the thief gave a small smile as he rubbed that bit off with his thumb.

"Be good, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."  
The children nodded out of sequence and gave the thief a beaming smile before seeing the thief take his leave.  
When that guy turned and left the alley to the main street, nobody was in sight as everyone had scurried off in safety, leaving the street bare and giving off a phantom village atmosphere.  
It was just the blond walking casually down the street while Sasuke followed his suit, but up on the roofs, pondering on what he should now do with this heroic villain.  
After thoughts after thoughts, Sasuke jumped off the roofs and landed gracefully in front of the thief, making him stop on his tracks.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, bright pair of glaring cerulean blue eyes met onyx black pair of eyes that showed no trace of emotion.  
The street boy had three scratch marks tattooed on both cheeks and plastered a face expression that wasn't there when he was facing the two toddlers just moments ago.  
Somehow the blond couldn't find any words to spit at while Sasuke had felt somehow satisfied with his silent greeting and then just passed the thief without a word.  
Not even stopping to ponder what that was all about, the blond thief glared once more towards Sasuke's back before he also took off, turning into another alley where his street mates were waiting for him.

The next day, Sasuke walked out a different routine towards his home.  
As if on cue, a guy rushed out of a convenience store and knowing the all too familiar figure of blur, Sasuke grabbed the guy's wrist in a smooth, quick motion which probably wasn't an action that could be traced by an average person's eye.

The sun-kissed blond looked wide-eyed and stared hard at Sasuke while Sasuke bore his eyes back into the one he grabbed a hold of.  
Knowing by just staring into Sasuke's eyes that he was no match for him, he looked away with his eyes narrowing and loosening every muscle on the arm which was held up.  
The packet of bread slipped from his grip which Sasuke caught with his spare hand as the shopkeeper came out with a furious face, ready to scream when he immediately turned it into a confused expression, although the hint of anger was still evident.  
The thief tried to leave, not wanting to be caught, but Sasuke held on the blond's wrists firmly and wasn't about to let go any time soon.

"I'd like this."  
Both the shopkeeper's and the thief's eyes widen in surprise as Sasuke opened his mouth to let out his low voice.  
Unlike the blond, the shopkeeper unfroze quickly and took the loose money whilst still holding onto the packet of bread with the same hand.  
With business done, the shopkeeper then disappeared without another word, into his shop.

"Here," Sasuke sighed before thrusting the packet of the now bought bread to the street kid while loosening his grip on the wrist.

"I don't need pity!" he spat and pushed the packet back against Sasuke's chest, which Sasuke pushed back with a force much stronger than the blond's.

"_You_ mightn't need it. But those two kids need it," Sasuke hastily said, already starting to feel irritated by the street kid's stubbornness and the humid weather that didn't cut him any slack.  
He really didn't feel like arguing in this hot weather and just hoping more than ever to hurry back to his place where the air conditioner awaited his return.

"How do you know?" the blond asked in suspicion.

"Just take it," Sasuke growled and shoved it, leaving the street kid standing rooted to the ground momentarily but soon took off to where the two kids were.

* * *

The blond grabbed a packet of bread for the nth time.  
He was so used to this that he knew when the shopkeeper realizes and when its time for him to start running. It was a daily routine, always the same.  
But today even when he passed the counter, the shopkeeper stayed silent.  
This was the same shopkeeper as yesterday.  
Feeling weird and awkward, the thief swung the packet in front of the shopkeeper at the counter.

"Aren't you gonna say anything?"

"Is there something I'm supposed to say? Or is it that your friend from yesterday forgot to tell you that he was going to prepay your share?" Was the reply that came from the shopkeeper, leaving the street kid's bright blue eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Is that so..." the blond muttered slowly.

After moments of silence, his feet directed him out the door of the convenience store, but as soon as he felt the hot gravel of the street beneath his shoes, he sprinted towards the two kids.

"Ah! Onii-chan!" two cheerful chirps were heard where the street onii-chan gave that kind smile again that was only dedicated to these two, and passed the packet of bread.  
Today's bread was custard bread, their favorite.  
The blond's smile widened to see the twins faces beam at him with sparkling eyes that were full of love.

"Sorry guys, I'm sorta in a hurry today," he said after receiving gratitude and love.  
With a wave of goodbye, he then started running towards the direction where he first met the raven from this morning.  
Running past the store from yesterday after checking that the guy he's looking for wasn't there, he ran along where the street would take him until he found who he was looking for.

"Oi!" the street kid yelled at Sasuke.  
Sasuke turned around slowly.

"Why are you doing this!? I never asked you to! I don't need your help!" he shouted at Sasuke's face that remained calm as if he wasn't even listening.

"Sasuke."

"Ay?" the street kid said confused.

"It's Sasuke. Not 'Oi' or 'teme'*," Sasuke said in a bored tone.

The street kid clicked his tongue.

"Tch! How should know your name?" He retorted in a sardonic tone of voice.  
Sasuke looked deeply into those bright blue eyes before turning away.  
"Well now you know," Sasuke said and started walking away.

"Oi! Where d'you think you're going! I'm not finished with you!"  
The blonds shout was ignored.

"Oi! Hey!_Hey!_ Y-you~...~nnguhhh! Sasuke!" he shouted with difficulty until at last he managed to scream out Sasuke's name.  
Sasuke then turned around and looked at the street kid with a smirk.  
Seeing that look made the blond lost for words and suddenly felt his protest really insignificant that he dropped his ranting.

"Yeah, what?" Sasuke said to the silence he was receiving.

"...my name isn't 'omae'* either. It's Naruto, " he said.  
Sasuke smirked wider.

"Okay. Naruto."

* * *

**(AN: Naruto had used the term 'teme' and Sasuke used the term 'omae' which both means 'you' but this is in Japanese, and when it's used in English it's weird and confusing so this is the only time I'm going to refer these terms that they used.)**


	2. Part 2

**All Hearts**

**Part 2**

* * *

The first ray of sunlight hit the dry streets stretching across the village at the time of dawn. It slowly made its way through the shadows between buildings as the sun rose higher into the sky.

At the entrance of a dark alley way, the first hint of light dropped upon a section of the guy's shoulder, who was sound asleep, and the small section of light began to spread its way in all directions, driving the warmth right into and through the body as well as revealing his body from the shadows into the daylight.

A drop of clear water fell from one of the roofs, hitting the guy's cheek and making his eyelids twitch before slowly opening them, revealing unfocused, blue crystal jewelry eyes that reflected the fine morning village under the cloudless skies.  
The guy roughly rubbed his face and ran his fingers through his hair before continuing to raise his arms to score a good stretch to loosen and wake the cramped muscles wide awake.  
He warily stood up, sleep still visible upon his face as he cranked his neck while walking out of the alley towards the open streets.

By the time he headed towards breakfast, his consciousness was fully back into gear and running, his eyes flashing full of life. That kind of wake and full awareness was what he needed to do the usual "nick-and-run".  
So to the usual stores he goes, although not that he had many to choose from since this was a small village that only had a few to begin with. He just chose different shops in a cycle, getting way to used to this kind of living life.  
He took a step into the store, his blood already pumping and starting to get excited and ready for the "morning dash".  
He lingered around the packaged and sealed breads, pondering on what flavor to buy today before picking a couple in hand.  
It was a well too known chase of predator and prey, and it the nicker doesn't feel great about categorizing himself as the "prey", but he knew when to run and succeed at it, giving him the adrenaline rush, making this whole process enjoyable.

Problem today was, the excitement is put out with an extinguisher, and they guy felt the surprised as well as disappointment. The shopkeeper gave the action-wanting prey no action, or rather, not even paying attention towards the guy trying to walk out of the store with unpaid food in his hand.

He just _had_ to walk back to the shopkeeper who noticed his presence and then stare at each other for a long moment while the guy couldn't help but think of a particular person in mind.  
Making his presence well known, he casually walked out of the store, still half-expecting the shopkeeper to scream and chase after him and his stolen food.

_Tch! That idiot! What is he up to now?_he thought as left with the breakfast for himself and the two kids in the alleyway as always, he walked around the whole village trying to find Sasuke.

_Did he go and pay every shop in this village?_he mumbled in his mind as he took the bread into his mouth.

The day was almost over. It was already 6 o'clock in the evening and guy was so exhausted. He had been running around the whole village trying to find this particular person in mind but with no luck. Sinking down onto the side of a street to rest, he played with his wrist band while trying to compose his breathing. Running around just itself was enough to be sweating buckets full, but this weather was draining his energy down to the feet making sweat roll down his forehead one after another.

_Where the hell is he!? …. Not that it matters to me... Why am I trying to find him anyway? I'm not worried about him… … Damn!_

"Where the _hell are you_, Sasuke!" the guy shouted angrily at the sky flicking his sweat in the opposite direction.

"…Here?" the said Sasuke replied, confused.

The guy jumped up a meter from shock.

"_Whoa_! Don't do that!" he gasped aloud while he held a hand against the pounding heart of his.

"Don't do what?" Sasuke asked, crouching down in front of the guy.

"Don't creep up on someone from behind!" he retorted, calming to his regular heart beat.

"…."

"What?" he growled, noticing that Sasuke was still staring at him.

"…Why were you looking for me, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"…. Ah, be-because y-you… I-uh… does it matter?" he stammered, stumbling all over his words.  
The truth was he didn't actually know _why_.  
Before he knew it, he was searching for him and when he did, he just didn't know what to say to him. The type of guy who would _start_thinking of plan A, forget plan B, and go ahead with it without completing the plan.

"Where the hell were you anyway!?" Naruto growled roughly, making sure he doesn't sound worried, making it far more obvious to Sasuke how he was trying to hide his emotions.  
He was an expert at reading emotions off an emotionless someone, so it wasn't hard at all to read his.  
A small smile tugging at the edge of his lips, Sasuke pulled out a hand towel from his bag and threw it at Naruto who caught it with his face.

"I was at school, Naruto," Sasuke said.  
The towel peeled off by the force of gravity and revealed Naruto's confused face.

"Why the hell would you want to go there for?" Naruto took the towel in hand and wiped the sweat off his face while asking.

"School? Never been to one? It's a place where all kids are supposed to compulsory go to get educated," Sasuke answered, giving Naruto a hand before they started walking.

"Yeah, learn _what_?" Naruto snorted. Sasuke looked at Naruto, and then sighed.

"Such as Mathematics, languages, Science, History, et cetera," Sasuke said before turning his head around to face Naruto and ask, "you know additions and subtractions, right?"

"Are you trying to offend me?" Naruto grumbled, "I ain't as dumb as I look."

"Multiplication and Division?"

"Yo, if you're trying to mock me-" Naruto started.

"Statistics and Calculus?"

"Excuse me? star-tactics and Calpis? Are we still talking about Maths here?" Naruto asked, throwing question marks above his head when he heard unfamiliar vocabulary and Sasuke sighed deeply.

"How do you come up with something so random?" Sasuke said exasperated.

"You're asking _me_? _You're_the one who came up with it!" Naruto grumbled with a few more question marks floating above his head.

"Fair enough. I was just testing to see where your level of mind is up to," Sasuke said.

"Well does _Calpis_ and all the other shit become so important and useful in life after you leave school? Know different languages and history and whatever the fuck you're learning there?" Naruto sneered.  
To that, Sasuke shifted his eyes towards Naruto before facing forward again.

"No, in most cases it doesn't actually."

"_Then what the point in going?_" Naruto groaned flailing his arms about, completely disoriented in where this was going and Sasuke's point of argument.

"They say its to get used to society and environment with many people that are variably, differently yet at the same time, similarly raised," Sasuke explained as he walked up the stairs with Naruto following shortly behind him, "And also be able to socialize with many different people."

"_They_ say? _Who_ says?" Naruto asked trying to process Sasuke's words as he watched Sasuke pull out his keys and unlock a door.  
Sasuke sighed before turning towards Naruto.

"It's a figure of speech."

Sasuke opened the door and walked straight in and Naruto was right behind him, fuming in puzzlement.

"Figure? _Figure?_" Naruto continued and by this time, Sasuke already decided to give up and ignore the idiot.  
"Why the fuck would 'speech' have a god damn figure if it doesn't have a fuckin shape in the first place!?"

Only after the front door slammed shut, did Naruto register where he was and widened his eyes. He looked around the place as if he felt alienated by the environment before he found that he still had the ability to speak.

"…Uh, where am I?" Naruto asked, lost.

To that, Sasuke answered short and simply the obvious.

"My apartment."


	3. Part 3

**All Hearts**

**Part 3**

* * *

"Whoa…"Naruto whistled with impression while scanning the tidy room that held so much fascination for a street kid like Naruto who had never been inside a house before or as long as he can remember and Sasuke could tell that he was losing Naruto since he was liking everything about it already before even going through the details. So the forgotten Sasuke had to call Naruto's name a few times before the utterly atmosphere-consumed Naruto came back to earth.  
The dazed was snapped back to the presence of the other's and he turned around to meet dark eyes that had a tint of darkest blue of the deepest ocean.  
Mesmerised by that too, it took a few moments to realise that Sasuke was offering Naruto a glass of ice-filled water which he took in hand almost immediately and downed it, so fast that the ice cold sensation wracked his brain in pain.  
Naruto clutched the side of his head painfully while Sasuke stifled a laugh.

"_What the fuck did you do to my head?_What did you put in it, bastard!" Naruto demanded from below whose throbbing still hadn't ceased.

"I didn't do anything. You just drank too fast, causing a brain freeze," Sasuke answered after he settled down from stifling the laughter.  
Naruto's head snapped back at Sasuke with widened eyes of horror.

"Brain...freeze..." Naruto gasped as he put the two words together literally.  
Sasuke had the urge to roll his eyes but settled with a sigh.  
He'll tell all the things Naruto doesn't know one by one later. Not now. Now was too tiresome for him and he had other things to do.  
Sasuke offered Naruto to a stool along the kitchen bench while he stood up and disappeared behind the door leading to the bathroom. Naruto sat without any hesitation and stared at a small object that was on the bench which Naruto knew not of but yet, caught him deeply interested.

Sasuke came back drying his wet hair with his own sweat towel before he felt a familiar sense of someone staring at him, and looked up to see with no doubt, Naruto staring at him with sparkling shallow water-like aqueous eyes.  
And those eyes had some eagerness in them, confusing Sasuke until an object caught into his view and then remembered that he had forgotten to put away his breakfast that he was supposed to eat in the morning but had left it there after receiving a help call from a friend, leaving for school earlier than usual and leading to a breakfast at the school cafeteria instead.  
His pale, slender arms reached over to the round object, ready to be taken away back to the dark and dry cupboards where its clones would be, but with a quick snap, the object was stopped been taken by.  
A tanned hand claimed over the pale wrist stopping Sasuke's movement and Sasuke raised an eyebrow lowering his gaze to the sitting blond.

"W-what's …that?" Naruto asked curiously, looking at the object with such fascination as before returning at full force. He didn't know what it was, but he was really interested in it even by looking at just the advertising paper of noodles in soup hanging firmly around the round obscene object.

_So this was what he was eager for..._Sasuke thought.

"This?" Sasuke asked, receiving a vigorous nod as he slowly unlocked Naruto's grasp from his wrist with his free hand and ripped the thin plastic seal that was over the object.  
Sasuke walked around the bench, over to the other side in the kitchen and switched the kettle with a click, making Naruto's heart beat rise in excitement like a toddler's heart, watching a circus show, meant for kids.  
When the kettle signalled its job done, Sasuke raised the heavy kettle filled with boiled water for it to only be poured into the object in front of Naruto. He put chopsticks on top of the flap of the round object closing off all spaces the steam could escape from and hand signalled a wait command on Naruto.

Sasuke watched Naruto amused as Naruto stared at the magic object as if waiting for an action to happen. Three minutes passed by which Sasuke counted in his mind, and he motioned Naruto to open the object.  
Hesitant hands move forward to open the flap after removing the chopsticks to let out a very juicy, delicious aroma crash upon Naruto's nostrils, making those flashing blue eyes gleam with joy and then he looked at Sasuke like a puppy waiting for a signal to indicate that he was allowed to eat. Sasuke nodded, enjoying the look on Naruto's joy-filled face.

Sasuke noticed the way Naruto used his chopsticks weren't held up correctly nor used properly as he golfed down the tasty hot contents as fast as he can as if the contents would run away if he didn't eat it quick enough.  
Sasuke played a small smile onto his lips with slightly dazed, dreamy eyes remembering his past when once upon a time he couldn't hold chopsticks properly and had been made fun of by his older brother. The last bit of soup slurped down loudly by the blond brought Sasuke out of his daze and made him almost smirk at the sight of his guest. He pulled a piece of tissue out of a box and handed it down to Naruto who stared behind Sasuke, at the box and holding down the urge to pull that white paper sticking out of it like it wanted to be pulled out.

Naruto averted his eyes from the box and looked around to find a family photo on the counter that had four people in it, all smiling like the happiest family ever. The blond took the photo frame into his hands and stared at it with interest, naturally his eyes lowering and his lips hovering to reveal the saddest smile Sasuke ever saw in his life.

"…is this your family?" Naruto asked with a total different tone to his usual, loud and obnoxious one.

Sasuke merely nodded, although Naruto's eyes weren't facing his direction to see it, but Sasuke assumed Naruto never had any to begin with.

"I wish…" Naruto whispered but didn't finish his sentence, letting the silence consume him into his lonely world with no memories of a family that he never had.

"…you wish?" Sasuke asked, after waiting for an answer that didn't come.

Naruto turned his head around with a sudden change of mood, "I wish I can see this guy! He looks so cool!"

He had pointed at Sasuke's older brother who was quite a delinquent at the time, growing his hair long, and putting bloody red eye contacts. On top of that, he wore a ring for an accessory as well as painting his nails purple which Sasuke couldn't understand the logic to it at all. Seriously? A guy with purple nail polish? Asides the long hair which his brother pretty much had for as long as Sasuke could remember, all changes were despised of since he had changed a lot since becoming a delinquent and hardly paying attention to Sasuke anymore. This picture was probably the last that his brother had his saneness and a smile for the love of his family.

"…you can't," Sasuke said without the slightest emotion expressed on his face as he hid them all.

"Awwwww, why not?" Naruto pouted like a child, and indeed, all his actions and speeches were childish as if no one had ever taught him nor educated him.  
He was unpredictable.

But so was Sasuke's brother.

"Because he's dead…"


	4. Part 4

**All Hearts**

**Part 4**

* * *

Sasuke sat on the couch, his hands linked with each other and rested on his legs while he stored away his past memories in his mind that slightly begged to be let out, but Sasuke never complied. He couldn't let himself be controlled over his emotions and risk breaking down again.

"Um…," Naruto suddenly didn't know what to do. He never had an experience like this, let alone with a stranger who he hardly knew yet.  
He was told that if a situation became bad, then run away from it, and so he did.

"I …I think I'll be going now," Naruto nervously said and in a rush, strode towards the door that lead outside to Naruto's own world.  
Sasuke didn't move nor respond.  
If the blond didn't want to stay he couldn't have him strapped here, since Sasuke didn't have any right to. He could hear the loud, mind echoing footsteps of Naruto's leaving his place, leaving Sasuke all alone again, emptying his heart after thinking he might have been able to have a person to hang out with for once and not allow himself to be consumed by this dark and cold solitude.  
But he stayed motionless as he heard Naruto's footsteps fading away after the door was shut with a small click that snapped the two apart.  
Sasuke sighed into his arms after thinking he had freaked him with his weird depressing aura which he hated but couldn't quite get rid of.

The next morning, Sasuke got back to his stoic face and left for school.  
He went into a random convenience store on the way to grab some flavored bread for breakfast.  
He walked up to the counter and placed the bread where the shopkeeper beeped the store product and announced the price.  
Sasuke put his hand in his wallet but stopped after registering what amount the shopkeeper had said the price,

"Excuse me?" Sasuke asked in a calm, collected voice.  
But not hearing it wrong as the shopkeeper replied again, Sasuke's raised a brow slightly as the price had tripled from the usual.

"Why?" was the next question the raven asked.  
The shopkeeper replied that the raven had bought 3 store products that day and a questioned look over came the raven as he became slightly amused at what the shopkeeper was telling him. Sasuke's lips curved into a slight smirk as he paid for 3 products as he only took one product out of the store and headed for school.

"You seem to be in a good mood, Sasuke," Sasuke's eyes lifted from his work to face his tutor who just spoke, "I didn't know such rare things could occur, my stoic Sasuke-kun."

'_My_ stoic Sasuke-kun?' Sasuke thought but all the sound produced from him was a "Hn," of reply, and returned back to his studies as the silver haired tutor sighed at Sasuke's choice of reply. But his tutor was slightly amused at the speed Sasuke was working at because he seemed he wanted done as soon as he possibly could have it done.  
At last when Sasuke was doing his last paper of study within Kakashi's tutor, the question was asked.

"By chance… have you made yourself a friend?"  
Kakashi, sharp as ever.  
And for once, Sasuke actually stopped his pen and looked up towards his tutor.

"…"  
Something caught Sasuke at the back of his mind and he couldn't allow himself to come forward, as a thought registered through his mind when Kakashi actually asked.  
Before that, he hadn't even had the time to think about it.

The silence and the stare from Sasuke is an unusual reaction Kakashi got, surprised him that Sasuke owned such expressions like this that he could show, but nevertheless assumed he's right.

'Is 'yes' something _that_ hard to say?" Kakashi thought as he raised a brow.  
Sasuke lowered his gaze and thinks, being utterly confused.

"I don't know…" Sasuke said slowly, finding this feeling unfamiliar to his usual environment he stood in.

"Huh?" Blunt confusion rose upon Kakashi.

"To what extent… can you call a person, a friend?"  
Kakashi sighed as he believes Sasuke is all too unfamiliar with ease and carefree life where he should've understand that he didn't need to_think_ if he had a friend or not.  
By looking at Sasuke, Kakashi knew Sasuke was trying to find the right answer, considering the other's feeling as well, when you shouldn't have the need to and be so complicated with the thought.

"_Sasuke_," Kakashi said with a deep sigh, "you don't need to think about it. It doesn't matter what others or that person himself thinks. It's only what _you_ think. If _you_think he's a friend to you, then he is. It's not something you dwell on it so deeply."

Sasuke's lips turn into a thin line. He knows. He knows that, but he can't help thinking himself to be wrong at thought. Living his life through complicated problems all the time, he only knows how to solve complicated problems, and yet those simplest ones anyone could do, he couldn't do it.

"Do you want to see him again?" Kakashi asked with a sigh, frustrated that he couldn't get through him and teach him how to be normal which _he is_, yet doesn't seem to notice that himself and the feelings that went along with it, allowing himself shut up deep within him all the 'unnecessary' feelings he once shoved into the Pandora box he owned in his heart with hard locks.

"Yes," Sasuke answered, quick and short. He knew that much.  
He wanted to know more about Naruto, not knowing the reason why, but had unknown feelings surging in his stomach which was churning, not in a bad way, but a certainly positive feeling.  
Sasuke was yet to know that was the feeling of nervousness, excitement, happiness and impatience of wanting to see him again.

Kakashi was taken aback by the quick and confident answer that it took awhile for him to come back, but once he did, he smiled underneath his clothing material mask and encouraged Sasuke to finish his last paper so he could go find his new _friend_.  
He found relief as he saw a little progress being made with the promise he made with Fugaku, Sasuke's father.

A promise to watch over Sasuke if anything happened to Itachi, and to teach Sasuke to be able to live a normal life with being able to express normal expressions of his emotions since Sasuke had locked it away deep inside him after seeing his mother being killed by his big brother and seeing his big brother he once used to love and admire, become mad with drugs.  
Kakashi was Sasuke's tutor, yet he was like a guardian to Sasuke who took care of not just his studies but also everything else like organizing the accommodation, and studies -tutor- although paying was all done by Sasuke himself with all the money he had of the Uchiha family, nevertheless taking responsibility of Sasuke's life.

Though not knowing who this '_friend_' was, Kakashi hoped it was someone who could change Sasuke and bring him out to the light.

* * *

Still dwelling upon Kakashi's question, Sasuke walked slowly back to his house and unconsciously pulled out his keys automatically as he got close to his door of his apartment but soon came back out from his mind of confusion to reality as he found himself not able to access his door as something was blocking the pathway.  
Sasuke slowly raised his head in mild surprise and lined his eyes with bright blue ones.

"Y-yo…" the blond saluted as he anxiously grinned, raising a hand.

"…Naruto"


	5. Part 5

**All Hearts**

**Part 5**

* * *

"So… what brings you here?" Sasuke asked, observing the street blond sitting across him on his couch in his very room of apartment. His laced fingers covered his small smirk that was starting to play over his lips.

"Just wanted to see if you were alive and moving," the visitor replied casting arms casually behind the back of his head, relaxing comfortably on the couch.  
That wiped any traces of smirk on Sasuke's face and his eyes hardened.

"Why did you think so?" Sasuke asked with a voice lower than before.

"Because you look emo as, man! Like you'd go f*ck yourself by slitting your wrists or sumthin!" Naruto gave his opinion straight forward with his usual slang-filled sentences, slightly feeling more comfortable talking with Sasuke 'normally'.  
This was probably a hint of Naruto finding Sasuke as some sort of 'friend', yet unfamiliar as he is, Although Sasuke didn't catch up on that hint at all, and rude to his words, Sasuke found the straight-forward opinions insulting and found that Naruto didn't choose his words to care about Sasuke's feelings at all.  
But being Sasuke, he confined all his emotions within himself and calmly dissociated Naruto's words to find the main message Naruto tried to get across Sasuke.

"So… you're saying that you were worried that I'd do something... _senseless_?" Sasuke asked with a tone no different to before, yet anger from the insult flaring within his onyx eyes.

"No f*ckin sh*t! Of course I was worried! Last night you looked like you were saying you have a sh*t life and I wanna f*ckin run away from all this!" Naruto growled as if he was mad from being accused of some crime he didn't do.  
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto's words of admitting that he was worried was so straight forward without hesitance, blush of embarrassment or waver.  
He meant those words and shot it straight back at Sasuke who never had anyone like that before, and had also read through his face expression through his stoical mask.

After all coherent thoughts and judgment, Sasuke came up with the conclusion that Naruto was lacking common sense and intelligence, in short: stupid, but was very straight forward and honest.  
A type that Sasuke at least, didn't hate as his lips once again curved up a little.

"Oi! Say something!" Naruto growled and Sasuke realized he had been silent for awhile, dwelling too deep in thought.

"…what do you expect me to say?" Sasuke played, seeing what kind of response he would get.  
Naruto looked troubled as if that wasn't something he expected to hear.

"L-li-li-like you're not gonna go hurting yourself o-or kill yourself!" Naruto spluttered, worry highly evident and spilling from each word that came out of his mouth.  
Sasuke kept himself from chuckling as he found Naruto amusing.

"You jump to conclusions too fast, what makes you think I would do that?" Sasuke asked, lowering his fingers, displaying the smirk with his eyes showing a hint of mock.  
Naruto saw the hint and slightly blushed in embarrassment and aided himself in defence in a rush.

"Then! Then! Why do you have bandages wrapped around your wrists!? That's suspicious enough!" Naruto said loudly as if his usual loudness in his voice wasn't enough to prove his point.  
And indeed after entering his home, letting Naruto in, he removed his school uniform, his long white shirt and had put on a black sleeveless top which revealed his pale, slender arms that were covered in bandages.

"Oh, this?" Sasuke said, glancing at the white bandage as he raised his arm to eye level before lowering it slightly to meet Naruto's gaze, "this is for my night job."

"Night job?" Naruto repeated curiously.

"Yes," Sasuke replied curtly, stopping that conversation there before Naruto got to ask what it was, Sasuke threw out his question first, "when I said jump to conclusions, I had actually meant the other one. What made you think that I would do such foolish thing from getting reminded that a sibling was dead?"

"Well, coz… you might have more to it than that…" Naruto replied uneasily as he shifted his eyes to the side.  
Sasuke actually let out a small chuckle at the uneasy sight of Naruto, totally unnatural to his hard, street looks.

"And how would you know that I 'might have more to it than that'?" Sasuke teased the evidently enjoying this more than he should but his smirk was wiped right off after what Naruto had got to say next.

"You had the same eyes… The same eyes as my mate did, before he… committed suicide," Naruto stated with an unusually quiet voice.  
Shocked with the news, Sasuke couldn't find himself to say anything like his tongue was stuck to the back of his throat.  
Once Sasuke got over it, his eyes dimmed in sympathy and lowered his gaze.

"I'm sorry…" Sasuke said.

"For what?" Naruto asked, purely confused.

"For you and your friend," Sasuke said, looking straight at Naruto who sat straight with slightly widened eyes.  
After a moment of silence, Naruto said something that caught Sasuke off guard or off the gloomy mood all of a sudden that was too quick for Sasuke to keep up.

"So was that what I was supposed to say to you yesterday?" Naruto asked with his voice back to his usual tone as if the serious and depressing atmosphere just a few seconds ago hadn't existed.  
Naruto was like a wind that waved away the dark, depressing rain storms in a matter of seconds.

"Uh…yea, I guess?" Sasuke replied slightly confused with the sudden change in mood.

"Ok. I feel sorry for you and your brother too!" Naruto stated, leaning forward with a very serious face.  
This caused Sasuke to slightly bend down in an effort not to laugh aloud.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, confused.

"It doesn't quite work like that…" Sasuke sat up right again but still slightly shaking from laughter.  
Naruto pulled a confused face as he couldn't figure what he did wrong.  
But once again, not dwelling on it for too long, Naruto suddenly stood up and sparkled his eyes excitedly.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Can I have that amazing magic cup of noodles you gave me yesterday!?" Naruto exclaimed, putting Sasuke off for a second once again.  
He had no idea how he was going to keep up with Naruto and his very fast change of mood, like he's got a switch somewhere within him that could change him at an instant.  
He didn't mind it though. It probably suited Sasuke, although it was something he had to get used to before hand.

"Yeah, sure. Just take it out from that cupboard over there and put in boiling water up to the line," Sasuke answered.

"Are you gonna have some to?" Naruto asked as he pulled out the cup noodle and took the plastic cover off it.

"No, I'm fine…" Sasuke closed his eyes with a smirk. At this point, he didn't know that this was going to his daily life from now but Sasuke didn't mind having company, since no one would prefer to be alone than to be with a person who they can get along with.  
Sasuke walked over to his closet and drawers to start getting clothes he needed: black (fingerless) gloves, black arm buckles, dark-blue sleeveless shirt, tight black pants, silver accessories, and a really long strip of navy bandana.

"What's up with that costume?" Naruto asked through his slurping of noodles, looking his way.  
Sasuke found Naruto staring and smirked.

"Nightjob," he said, before he went to the bathroom, leaving Naruto confused.

Sasuke got out his hair gel and put up his hair spiky at the back, leaving his bangs like it is, framing his face.  
He then pulled out his red color contacts and placed them carefully onto his eyes.  
When he set out a foot from the bathroom, he was blown with the force of 'WHOA!' screamed right at his face.  
Sasuke caught himself in time, before he fell to the ground and stared at Naruto with squinting eyes from the vibration he was still feeling in his eardrums from Naruto's loud voice.

"Why the hell were you millimeters away from the bathroom door?" Sasuke asked.

"Holy f-ck! What the hell did you do to yourself, man!" Naruto cried and Sasuke had to flinch again at the volume.  
When Sasuke had straightened himself again and leveled eyes with Naruto, he found Naruto staring, gaping at him, so he found himself putting his hand right no Naruto's face to push it away as he tried to walk past him.

"What the f-ck!?" Naruto mumbled through between Sasuke's fingers as his vision was blocked.

"No staring. And if you've finished eating, you better leave because I'm going out soon," Sasuke said as he got out his boots and started to put them on.

"What is this night job sh-t? What are you doing? Why do you look so freakin' hot!?" Naruto blurted straight without a second thought.  
Sasuke blushed at that, still not used to Naruto's straight forwardness.

"…"  
Sasuke thought for a second as he stopped for his movement for a moment.  
He turned around and looked up at Naruto.

"Do you want to come and see?"


	6. Part 6

**Disclaimer: The lyrics of 'Suigintou no Yoru' is owned by Ishida Uryuu and sung by Sugimiya Noriaki (aka, Sasuke).**

* * *

_What is this night job sh-t? What are you doing? Why do you look so freakin' hot!?"_

"…"

_"Do you want to come and see?"_

* * *

**All Hearts**

**Part 6**

* * *

Naruto tagged along Sasuke's offer accompanied by a few thousand question marks floating above his head, truly and utterly confused with the situation.  
Grabbing a long black coat to cover the well-dressed self, Sasuke stepped outside his apartment and motioned Naruto to come out so he can lock the door.  
It wasn't much of a walk to reach their destination, which was a club with blazing lights and booming music most luring places for young people to feel in paradise, except in darkness.

Naruto looked bewildered to see Sasuke come to a place like this after assuming he was some sort of an elite studious student who hadn't even heard of clubs, drinking and drugs.  
Of course it wasn't anything serious of that sort here that would get him into trouble, but Sasuke seemed too _used_to coming here.

_...and night job?_

"Hey, Sasuke!" the bar man who was scrubbing some beer glasses casually greeted him when Sasuke removed his hood and revealed his face.  
That brought the chicks nearby to whip their heads round, and before you know it, the chicks started squealing over this one seriously hot man at the back of the club, spreading the attention of all the chicks in the club from the main front stage all to the back like some linking chain reaction of molecules.

Screams of "Oh my god! Sasuke's here!" stopped the DJ from playing the music and knowingly greeted the raven looking his way with a chin-up nod as if to say he's ready for him anytime.  
Receiving the message on the other end, Sasuke nodded back curtly in acknowledgment before moving his legs towards his destination.

Screaming fan girls wrapped around to Sasuke's side like a whole gunk of unwanted glue and with a grim face, he made an effort to trudge through the swarm of fan girls that all seemed to do the same thing as if they were all just replicas of one intense fan girl.

Before Sasuke was out of reach, Naruto saw him turn around to stare at him, as if to say, stay there.  
Naruto obliged and sat on one of the seats in front of the bar, satisfying Sasuke as he got back to his task of going to the other side of the bar club through the stickiness, not that it were only girls here.

Naruto sighed and looked around the dark room where all the lights, even the flashing disco ones, seemed to be turned off before Naruto had taken notice of it when he was glued to the shadowed figure of Sasuke leaving his side.  
This place was full of the atmosphere that was unsuited in any way to the Sasuke before he had dressed up attractively –apparently not only by Naruto's opinion- and the blond wondered what rendered Sasuke to have such activities in his daily routine.

Suddenly, a slice of dark blue lights pierced upon the stage and focused on the guy sitting on the edge of the stage at the centre, looking down like a silent puppet as if waiting for it to be moved by a puppeteer.  
Silent melody made its way through the whole club and gradually got louder until the dead-still puppet comes to life, humming the melody towards the ceiling with its eyes closed when the lights started moving around.

When the lyrics finally kicked in, the tightly closed eyes snapped open and flashed its crimson red eyes straight towards the swarming crowd that was now cheering at the puppet that was inserted a soul, coming to life.

_Yomichi ni ukanda suigintou no hikari...  
Namida mo nai noni naze ka nijimi tatsu...  
(The mercury lamp light that floated on the night road  
Somehow blurs even without tears)_

The body covered in tight black material that gave the contrasting pale skin stand out to its extent as it made itself slightly tinted with the blue light, expressing the cool demeanour.  
Speakers delivered the sound waves of the piercing deep and clear voice that vibrated through the mike, radiating towards the crowds, leaving everyone mesmerized at the sight and sound.  
Naruto was no exception, and he was so dumbstruck that his jaw hung wide open.  
He had never seen or heard anything like it.

_Senaka ni mo hitotsu namida no nioi...  
Tsuite kuru, tsuite kuru...  
Tsuite kuru, tsuite kuru...  
(The scent of one more tear  
Draws nearer, draws nearer  
Draws nearer, draws nearer)_

First impression was nothing but what the eyes can reflect when Naruto had met Sasuke. A fairly normal studious student except giving off that smart aura those only elite students can radiate, including the mocking coal black eyes that seemed to look down on people as if he had the care of the world about the people who had nothing to do with him.  
Otherwise his appearance was a formally dress-coded guy with straight hair shooting downwards, his whole body fairly long and slender in general, not a look on his face would ever give away hints that he may be doing out of the ordinary that goes against school rules.  
But sitting there with a mike in his hand and staring right at Naruto was another Sasuke all together, like a hidden white flower that was only beautiful against the pale blue moonlight.

_Hitotsu, futatsu no kage, kasanari  
Gurasi to mune hitotsuki...  
Futatsu no kage tokeru suigintou no yoru ni...  
(One, two shadows overlap  
Piercing through my chest  
The two shadows melt in the mercury lamp-lit night)_

_Wow wo-o-oh wo-oh_  
_Wow wo-o-oh wo-oh_

When the song came to an end and the girls started screaming, Naruto felt like he was sucked back to Earth at extreme speed right back onto the stool of the bar in the club.  
It was then that he realised he was so taken in by the performance that his soul had been pulled into another world altogether, drowning in the voice and being numbed by the gravitation-less dimension.

"Let's go," the vocal said before Naruto even found out that he was right behind him.  
Naruto gave out a shocked, strangled cry that was only to be muffled with smooth, slender fingers covering firmly across the street kid's mouth before he allowed any possibilities of attracting the whole club members' attention back to him which would end up in a tougher getaway.

"S-mphskmm" Naruto attempted to call as he recovered from shock.  
The cloaked Sasuke smirked and let his hand slide back to his side before stepping aside for Naruto to get off the stool and follow him out of the club.

They walked back in silence, going through a children's park that was brightly shone by the moonlight.  
The cloaked raven suddenly changed his direction of path 90 degrees, and headed for the poles, jumping up to sit upon one of the horizontal poles and looked down at Naruto below with a smirk.

"How did you think of it?" the smirking raven sitting on the pole asked while removing his hood, revealing his face. The blond who had followed Sasuke in every step gazed up at the other right before him with those azure crystal blue pair of eyes that was a good match between his and the other pair, the piercing crimson eyes, gazing at each other.

Sasuke frowned after minutes of silence, knowing that he was going to get a straight and honest answer, but wasn't expecting silence to be an option.  
But truth be told, Naruto couldn't even start to imagine how he could describe how it was.  
He just stood there awed by the dazzling figure streaked with black upon the pale skin, making Naruto almost imagine pure black wings formed behind Sasuke's back.

"Hn, no comment? I guess it didn't suit your style," concluded Sasuke himself with a hint of disappointment.  
Naruto realizing what Sasuke had said, quickly shook his head to in fro, so fast that it made his brain fly and his head whizzing madly.

"What?" Sasuke slightly squint his eyes in confusion when he heard Naruto mumble quietly to the ground with words he couldn't pick up.  
But his eyes widened when he heard the repeated words.

"You looked... like a fallen angel..." Naruto mumbled a little louder.  
No blush, no embarrassment. Just plain shock was imprinted on Sasuke's face.  
Because from his point of view, it wasn't _he_who looked pure and chase, but the one in front of him, the angelic-looking blond in the moonlight, his cerulean eyes like a pair of rare crystals that shouldn't belong to any normal human, but only to one just like him, Naruto.

"It's the other way round... the opposite of that," Sasuke muttered under his breath as he shifted his gaze away from the _real_fallen angel who was too bright for him to stare for so long. He hated himself for feeling envious, but Sasuke wasn't to blame, as for most people would have had felt the same.

"What, you mean the devil? Are devils supposed to be hot?" Naruto genuinely looking surprised asked quite innocently, once again, changing the atmosphere at an instant.  
Sasuke curiously looked down at Naruto, which he was able to stare at again after the sudden change, and wondered how Naruto was able to do that.

_Devil... yes. I guess I am._

Sasuke thought at the word with a heavy guilt hooked inside his heart, and a pair of cerulean eyes looked back up at him innocently, without knowing the slightest of Sasuke's thoughts.

"Then which type of person would you call an angel then?" Naruto grumbled defensively as he still thought his definition of Sasuke was far better than what Sasuke himself credits for.  
But when Sasuke opened his mouth to say to direct his image of an angel, Naruto's heart stops and the time freezes, leaving only the wind to blow through between the two.

"_You_"


	7. Part 7

_"Then which type of person would you call an angel then?"_

_"You"_

* * *

**All Hearts**  
**Part 7**

* * *

"A-... ahahahaha, whoa, whoo, yea, uh-um that was kinda embarrassing ae," Naruto let out an unsure laugh and flustered about by waving his hands around, because he suddenly became not quite too sure on what to do with them.  
The sight of Naruto flapping his arms around almost like a chicken made Sasuke obliviously spill laughter from his usually unsmiling mouth.  
Naruto stared at the other in awe, his eyes wide in shock as if Sasuke had suddenly sprouted wings, which Naruto mentally did see. But this time, it wasn't pure coal black and shimmering like a raven's feather. It was a pure white dove's feather without the slightest stain that would get in the way of the vibrant white chastity it was radiating.  
This was definitely the definition of angel in _his_dictionary.

Though he doesn't realise yet, that only he had the capability of making Sasuke forget and be free of any troublesome thoughts that burden his mind for a period, softening his features that was usually hardened with a layer of thick, stoic mask.

"L-l-look at me, Sasuke! I'm nothing but dirty rags and scars and a bushy bunch of hay!" Naruto stuttered, defining himself while pointing at every part of his body: his clothes, face and head, "while you're like...like... just... perfect... with nothing... missing..."

Ah, Naruto's sincerity and honesty was just too bright for Sasuke, and he stared down at the angel he coincidentally had found with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes due to the depth of solitude it reflected.

"Although appearance is definitely part of the definition..." Sasuke calmly murmured as the the pain in the heart started to return to him, gradually becoming expressed upon his facial features, "I was meaning more of the inside, Naruto."

_The heart and soul... how untainted and pure..._

It was impossible for Sasuke to become like Naruto whose appearance was quite similar by age and physical maturity, yet his heart and mind was still an untouched, pure child.  
Not having much education as a child meant that he didn't have much knowledge on things he should and shouldn't know.  
Of course education was important to get you through life and society. To learn the rules on what's the right or wrong thing to do.  
What justice is and what crime is.

But not knowing anything of the sort isn't just being naive and innocent.  
There are many things that are told that are things you would've never had to come across or even think about if you hadn't any knowledge of it in the first place.  
Education is a world you're pulled into with information inputted into the brain to keep you in line but to tell you _how_ to get out of line because of being informed that there _is _a line that isn't allowed, but isn't impossible to go across.

Honest and sincerity as pure and crystal clear as Naruto was long gone from Sasuke's heart without a trace left due to permanent scars of memories that wound his heart beyond repair like a rip that constantly leaked blood, emotions and sins that weighed down his heart that represented the burden he had to carry for the rest of his life, like a cross twice as heavy as himself.

To be frank, Naruto was childish.  
But that was what made the boy have this angelic feature.  
Something the opposite existence such as Sasuke, would be jealous of and attracted to.  
Maybe that was the exact reason why he was so concerned about Naruto, wanting a bond and keep himself from falling below the balancing level of a scale that dared to sink Sasuke lower and lower.

Naruto scrunched his face into a very difficult expression as he tried to figure what the angel face but so-called devil was trying to say with his eyes that intensely stared into those azure blue pair.  
Noticing Naruto craning his neck and trying to look at Sasuke from different angles, made Naruto unintentionally earn another chuckle from the other, as Sasuke waved his thoughts off with a shake of his head.  
Jumping off the horizontally placed steel, he landed almost soundlessly down to the sand ground and started to walk towards the other side of the park.

"Let's go back..."

The gravel beneath his feet made out the only sound heard in the park, and Sasuke realized that Naruto wasn't following.

" '_Go back_'...?"

Naruto's whisper almost got taken away with the wind before it reached Sasuke's ears, but catching it before it was gone, made Sasuke whip his head around.

"Yeah... my apartment?" Sasuke replied unsurely, not quite sure why the atmosphere had changed all of a sudden.  
Naruto felt the hint of disappointment when Sasuke said those words, and Naruto lightened up.

"Oh, your place? If I can get those noodles in a cup again, hell yeah!" he shot a fist up in the air and jumped before trotting towards Sasuke, who once in for all, loved the extreme mood changes Naruto was able to easily create.

Though Sasuke didn't miss the look that plastered across Naruto's face for a brief moment.

_'Go back...?' _

It was the first time Naruto had looked hazy in the eyes as if those words were the trigger for Naruto's mind to hypnotize himself into memories of the past.  
If Naruto wasn't willing to share, Sasuke wasn't going to stick his nose into other people's business, so he decided to forget that spur moment of Naruto being unlike himself.  
Slightly shivering at the coldness biting at his body, he hugged the coat tighter and sped up.

* * *

Unlocking the door to the dark raven's apartment, the street boy followed in after the owner of the house like an obedient dog. The smell of the noodles he loved was still there, lingering, inviting him to hunger as his stomach growled.  
Hearing the low growl, Sasuke turned back and with a questioned look, receiving a lopsided smirk from Naruto.

"Ehehe... whoops?"

Sasuke pointed towards the counter of his kitchen, indicating the hungered boy to sit, while he hung his coat on a hook.

"Sit there and give me a few minutes," Sasuke ordered, and headed off to the bathroom after receiving a nod from the obedient stray.

He closed his eyes and listened to the noises he could capture within his ear's range like he would usually do as a hobby, but to his surprise, he heard absolutely nothing.

He would always hear the wind, the dripping water, the slight noisy atmosphere and the wild cats rummaging the trash can even at the quietest moments, but here, he heard nothing, like he was closed off from the whole world.

Naruto couldn't quite understand why that was, since he had never been inside a room for a start, but he knew that there should at least be a single source of sound from somewhere within the room.  
Where people were, noise existed.

That what he had thought until now, where the windows were shut, the doors were locked, the taps were tightly screwed and everything was so in place and confined, that Naruto found a little claustrophobic or rather a little unnerving and unnatural, where he instinctively felt that it was not quite right.

No sound was something Naruto couldn't understand, for he never experienced being in a place so deadly silent. Being so locked up in a place like this with no sound left him with an impression of imprisonment or hideout, which was exactly what it was for Sasuke, although Naruto would have no idea as to why.  
Why Sasuke was shutting himself from the world, closing off all interactions from the outside, keeping himself all alone?  
Why would Sasuke create such a solid and solitary shell to avoid everything and anything?  
Was it for protection? Then from what?

"...why would he do that?" Naruto voiced out his words.

As quickly as the question naturally came out in a whisky voice, a solid reply came from the other side of the room.

"Why would I do what?"


	8. Part 8

_"Why would I do what?"_

* * *

**All Hearts**  
**Part 8**

* * *

The angel had deflated himself from spiked up hair to wet flattened hair and tight clothes to loose indoor sweats. Emerging from his bathroom, Sasuke was still rubbing his head with a towel, trying to dry away the drops of water that just kept sliding down strands of his hair.  
His stoic face was somewhat confused looking but irritated at the same time, finding the tone of Naruto's words slightly offensive.  
It was clearly a negative question that Sasuke had twitched to and had a feeling he wasn't going to like it, not that he ever liked any comments that were raised, concerning him.

"What are you afraid of?"

Those black coal eyes widened as all the blood circulating within his body froze in that instance. It was something he had never expected to be asked.

_...well that was _some_ reaction I got there,_Naruto thought raising his eyebrows right up, as high as it would go from the sight of someone looking as shocked and... frightened.

Sasuke knew this wasn't an ordinary question and he knew exactly what Naruto had meant by those words.  
It was those azure sincere eyes that penetrated right through his heart, as if Naruto really was an angel who could read his heart like an open book.  
Or more the fact that it was something Sasuke feared of getting someone to find out or ask of it...

* * *

_"Brother...? What are you doing?"_

Within the shadows of the room, Itachi was sitting on his bed without the lights turned on. The air was still and the atmosphere was sending the younger Uchiha queer, uneasy feeling, even though this was his beloved brother right in the centre of his vision.

What went wrong to make him feel this way?  
Was it perhaps the lighting?  
Or was it the slightly disturbing moonlight that sliced a piece of the room?  
Or was it because Itachi didn't turn around immediately turn around towards his dear little brother and give the warmest smile he always did, filled with love... but instead... Slowly turning towards him with blood red eyes and a smirk that didn't show a trace of vice.  
He winced at those unnatural color contacts which he despised.  
It seemed like his older brother was possessed by something...  
Something bad...

"Sasuke... come here..."

Sasuke...

Those smirking lips formed to say his name over and over again...

Sasuke...

Sasuke...

* * *

"...Sasuke!"

"_WOULD YOU RESPOND FOR F-CKIN SAKES, YER DICK!_"

Hearing words that never came out from Itachi's mouth, Sasuke snapped back to reality physically and mentally.  
Immediately Sasuke clutched the side of his head and clenched his jaw as he waited for the pain to subside.

Naruto had hit him hard with a fist that was still raised at the ending point, moving up and down in rhythm with Naruto's hard breathing.  
Sasuke came back to reality a second too late to avoid the blow and the skull was screaming pain, although it was as though his almost physical memory just flew out of the ear from the other side.  
He sighed and sat down on a stool as he still kept a palm to the part of the head where it was still aching.

"S-sorry... got a bit dazed there..." Sasuke mumbled, downcast.

"A bit!? _A bit!?_ You took a mental trip over to the _f-ckin moon!_ I thought you weren't gonna come back, asshole! We all tend to take trips every now and then, but only as far as the brain, f-ck! Not _outside_ the brain!" Naruto ranted on and Sasuke just _had _to look up with a raised brow.

"I was out of it, but I was still here, Naruto," Sasuke disagreed.

"No you weren't! I called out to you, I poked you, I shook you, I tried to leave you, I threatened you, I whispered to you, I pecked you but you _still _didn't come back!" Naruto hysterically waved his arms around and explained.

"..._pecked?_" Sasuke's eyebrow flew to the hairline.  
Naruto put his two middle fingers against a thumb, and made a shape of a fox with a hand.

"I call it the fox peck!" he said proudly with a smile.

_So that's why my pain isn't willing to subside any time soon..._  
Sasuke's head lolled down in defeat as he sighed deeply.

"You took so long to come back that I can't even remember what we were talking about, f-ck!"  
Sasuke looked up at this, and saw Naruto had swung his arms over and put his hands behind his head while lazily looking away, obviously remembering it well enough not to forget, but a look of defeat and giving up on the subject after sensing something too deep to be stepping into.

"Anyway! Can I have more of those magic noodles that I f-ckin love to bits!?" Naruto cried as he turned to face Sasuke full on, closing up on him with eyes so anticipated with excitement that Sasuke could swear that he saw heart-shaped marks popping out of them, expressing how much he was loving this thing. Although Sasuke couldn't help noticing the huge difference between the sparkling eyes and the choice of words that were coming out from Naruto's mouth.

_Nevertheless, there goes Naruto again, changing the air of mood with a click of his fingers._  
To Sasuke, he thought that Naruto was much more magical than a cup of 3 minute instant ramen noodles.

"Yea, sure..." muttering, Sasuke played a small smirk with half-mast eyes that showed evident relief and relaxation, "have as much as you want."

Naruto was able to sense people's emotions well and he knew the boundaries of where to step on and not to step on.  
The landmine of Sasuke's that Naruto had stood on was now inputted into his brain and knew not to approach that area anymore.  
Not unless Sasuke was willing to let Naruto enter his danger zone anyway.

The room filled up with the smell of ramen noodles and the room was suddenly filled with life unlike the usual cold, dark and loneliness that Sasuke had created.

He hadn't felt 'at home' in so many years, that he couldn't believe that he actually preferred this than being alone, changing his mind 180 degrees from all these years, now that he met this angel that was sent to this poor dark raven perhaps out of pity.

But what Sasuke didn't know, was that even angels can taint and cause deepest darkest tragedy, or have darkness looming just around the corner waiting for the two to become close enough to prey upon...

* * *

_"Sa...suke..."_

_Croaky voice dampened by the clammy, cold atmosphere._

_"Help..."_

_Sound of a body dragging towards his way._

_"Hel..p me... Sasu...ke..."_

_Blood fingers trying to reach out for him._

_"Please...help me..."_

_Inhumane bloody iris staring hard at him._

_...Sasu...k...e..._


	9. Part 9

**Cye:**

**Looooooooooooooooooong time no see.  
I finally have time to start writing fanfics again so here I am, starting with this series.  
Since there had been a break between the last chapter and this chapter,  
I decided that some time has passed within this story too, although not as long as I have left this hanging...orz  
Also, humorous Kakashi PoV for a change, just because I love funny Kakashi even if it may be a little OOC!  
Sorry for those who were waiting for so long, thanks to all readers, favers and reviewers, and hi to new people! ^^)ﾉｼ**_  
_

* * *

**All Hearts**  
**Part 9**

* * *

It's been 5 years after that incident. Sasuke is still a stoic child as ever and has no interest in anything in the world. It was kind of worrying for Sasuke to change this much, which is none but his older brother, Itachi's fault.

Nobody knows what the young Uchiha is thinking anymore as he bottles up absolutely everything to himself as if he trusts no one, interacting with none and to keep himself away from anyone who tries to get close to him.  
I, as a guardian of his -and also on constant watch- feel that this isn't right for him.  
There's nothing troublesome with his daily actions and personality as he comes to school every day, studying without any difficulty while the rest of the time he just goes straight home.  
Though the silence is what currently worries me.  
He's too good at _acting_ as an elite student but when you stare into those eyes of his, they dully reflect your image back as though there's nothing on the other side.  
Just pitch blackness without a life.

That _was_ my concern...

...until very recently, or let's just say, within these past few weeks.  
My Sasuke has tremendously changed and I seriously wonder if he slipped by accident, cracked his head against a metal pole and transplanted a different person's brain altogether, because what I see in front of me right now, is an _insanely_ absurd Sasuke!

He has a face of a _father_ almost!  
Kind, caring and even if that stoic mask is still there at 50% opacity, his lips are definitely not facing downwards or a horizontal thin line of grimness or a frown and his eyes actually reflects life!

_THIS IS NOT MY SASUKE!_ my brain screams.

As if hearing my ransom that's currently whirring inside my brain that's having a difficult time trying to understand this situation which is equivalent to trying to solve the possibility of survival if you try to travel all the way to mercury because that's just how insanely impossible it is for _that_ Sasuke to change so visibly within a few weeks, *breathes*, Sasuke takes his eyes off his paper and takes a glance towards my way.

"What?"

Cold, one word communication.

_Ah, yes. That's the Sasuke I'm familiar with!_ my brain nods mentally as I feel a slight relief, patting down my heart.

"Nothing..." I reply awkwardly, but sensing that too, Sasuke raises a brow and I sigh in defeat and continue, "err... I mean, has something happened to you recently?"

As if immediately understanding why I'm acting like this, he looks back down to his paper and continues writing as he starts speaking to me casually.

"Yeah... well, I'm living with someone right now, and sorta taking care of two kids at the same time."

My eyeballs pops out of its sockets, fall to the ground and starts rolling, wandering off somewhere.

_What in the name of the Hokage did this stoic, non-interacting child say!?_

I, Kakashi, has lived *beep* many years, and not _once_ had _I _ever done that, but Uchiha Sasuke? Of all people? And I really do stress that this is _Sasuke_ we're talking about!  
Err... right?

I wish I'm wrong...

"L-living with... s-someone and her kids...," I manage to stutter after recovering my eyeballs mentally, "s-s-so you fell in l-l-love with an older woman w-who already has two kids?"

At this point, Sasuke actually stops writing and puts his pen down before giving me that look.

"_Obviously_, or else I wouldn't decide to let them _live_ with me," is what Sasuke looks as though to say, but what comes out of his mouth is even more unexpected and bewildering that my brain actually flies to the outer space and floats aimlessly.

"No, it's a guy."

_" No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. __No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. __No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy. No, it's a guy."_

Sasuke's words echoes repeatedly within "my" outer space until a basketball sized comet smashes right into the floating brain and shocks me back down to reality.

"Sasuke... not that I mind what kind of orientation you have... but... you're _gay_?" I ask.  
I just _had_ to ask.

"No."

A curt, cold and short, one word reply, accompanied by an exasperated glare... if that's even possible.  
Sasuke's not gay. Good.  
What's more, his one word communication is still there. Even more good.  
Means Sasuke hasn't changed except has merely randomly decided to have a roommate.  
Wait... I'm missing something...

"What about the kids?" I question Sasuke now without the panic and mental trips I had moments ago.

"Homeless twins. Ones Naruto took care of," Sasuke replies now back to do the rest of his paper work.

_So he's called Naruto..._ I note, and then decide to go visit Sasuke's place for once, to go and meet this person who seems to have changed a great deal of his stoic young Uchiha.  
Because even if I ask him, he won't answer any of my questions which is something I know well, since he hadn't spoken a word of what had happened at the Uchiha residence on that night of the incident.  
Not one single word about it to the police or even me.  
Not even now after all these years.

Nobody knows what truly happened that night... just only the one survivor.

"Sasuke..."

"Don't creepily call my name out of the blue," I hear a growl right beside my ear and I jump out of my skin. Apparently I had zoned out and accidentally slipped his name between my lips.

"And don't sneak up on me like that, Sasuke," regaining my rightful posture, I say to my student, "you have a really light shade of existence so keep it more opaque."

"Not sneaking, _finishing_," Sasuke growls with a glare, holding out a sheaf of paper in front of my face, "my _report_."  
I sigh at his face expression that he shows me 90% of the time, and wonder if I'm ever going to see any other emotions flick upon this stoic face, ever, as I grab his report and scan it through roughly, ending it with a reference sign off me.

"And you're not coming over either," Sasuke instructs over his shoulder before leaving out the door.  
_What, I said that out loud as well?_ I sigh once again, but this time not at Sasuke's face, but at my lack of control of my mouth during my sub-consciousness.

"Oh well. You can't stop me from visiting," I say aloud.  
And I'm going to make that a fact.


	10. Part 10

**A/N**

**Another not so depressing or serious or emotional chapter from me.**  
**Maybe I need to get more depressed! jk, lol**

* * *

Part 10:

A deep sigh escapes the teenaged boy's lips as he dumps himself upon the comfortable sofa.  
All the energy in him drains out of him and stains the sofa, making him almost fall into slumber just like this, but a small prod on the knee causes him to peel his eyes open where he finds a glass of water before his eyes.

A small smile plays on his lips as two concerning twin faces stare identically at him.

"Cheers, Sao and Nao," the elder boy says, taking the glass off Sao's hands.  
Nao then comes from behind Sao and also holds out something for the tired teenager, actually making him fall into chuckle loudly.

"Ah~, you guys know me to well," he sighs as he takes his favourite dish, ramen cup noodles off Nao's hands after downing his water and placing it on a nearby tea table.  
Not noticing the smell of it in the first place even with his amazing sense of smell, shows how fatigued he actually had been.  
Only after this genuine smile the ramen-lover gives, that the two twins feel rest assured.  
They relax and both climb onto the single couch where the two little minions are small enough to share the sitting space as they are always joined at the hip.

"...Naru nii," Sao breaks the silence, or well, the slurping noise of ramen being sucked into a very hungry mouth.

Said, 'Naru nii' (Naru big brother) cuts off his noodles with his incisor teeth as he raises a brow at the twins, whichever had spoken to him.

"When is Sasu nii coming back?"

Naru nii looks around to face the kitchen wall where a clock had been placed a few weeks after the twins and he had decided to migrate to this refuge.  
If said 'Sasu nii' leaves for his studies leaving the house open for hours, at least he could tell us exactly _when_ he will come back each time and how long to actually wait for other than aimlessly wandering around the room doing nothing at all since there barely is anything in here to start with.

"Hmmm... he should be coming back soon," the teenager mutters as if to himself rather than the twins as he sees that the time is just a minute before the said time the other teenager would be back.  
As if on cue, the door opens and a low tone greeting comes from the entrance.

"Tadaima" (I'm back)

"Okaeri!" the two twins bounce of the couch and dash towards the raven teenager making the other pout.

"Aww, you guys like Sasuke more than me now, huh?" Naruto mutters to himself aloud, making sure he's heard.

"Probably because you smell like nicotine, Naruto," Sasuke points out as he reaches to pat Sao's and Nao's heads.

Naruto sniffs his baggy jersey that he currently wears and curse the name who's responsible for it before removing it off himself and chucking it across the room to the other side. Sasuke sighs at his actions as he puts his bag aside promptly upon the bench before rolling up his sleeves, entering the kitchen.

"What do you guys want for din-" Sasuke starts, but is cut off with a colourful mix of swearing on maximum volume and Sasuke turns around to see what the matter is, only to groan.

"Kakashi..." Sasuke sighs exasperatingly while Naruto was like a cat seeing a dog, screeching on the other side of the couch with all the fur sticking up as the dog role, Kakashi, merely smiles behind a mask while crouching right beside the opposite end of the couch with a casual, "hi there!".

"Who the _fuck_ are you!?" Naruto screams pointing an accusing finger at the silver-haired man.

"I'm Sasuke's guardian, slash, teacher," Kakashi replies unfazed by the screeching, helping himself to a seat on the long couch while Naruto, untrustingly jumps over to the single couches.

"And how the hell did you get in here!? I thought this place is always locked!?" Naruto shouts at Kakashi and then Sasuke half way.

"Kakashi is an expert at picking locks," Sasuke sighs, and then adds, "He's a trustable man."

"Yes, I am. It's not like I wanted to be an expert at picking locks! I only ever got the skills because Sasuke would hardly let me visit!" Kakashi pouts.

After hearing that, Sao and Nao drops off the bench stools and patter over towards Kakashi to greet him.

"Hi there," Kakashi smiles underneath his mask, "what are your names?"

"Sao" "Nao" they both chirp.

"My name is Kakashi sensei," the man says as he pats the twins' heads.

"sensei...?" Sao and Nao murmur as they look curiously up at the kind stranger.

"Yup, that's right," Kakashi replies, then glances towards the other teenager, "you can call me sensei too."

To Kakashi's amazement, Naruto's eyes actually lights up with excitement as he jumps back onto the long couch Kakashi is sitting on.

"For real!? Like, sensei as in you can be my teacher!? You can teach me awesome stuff!?" Naruto excitedly jumps up and down asking.

"...I'm not sure what you describe as 'awesome stuff'... but I'm sure there'll be something you'll be interested in that I can teach," Kakashi awkwardly smiles at the sudden change of attitude.

"Shot!" Naruto pumps the air with a fist, making Kakashi widen his eyes at the unused to reactions this blond boy is giving him.

_No wonder Sasuke catches interest in this boy..._ Kakashi thinks and feels relieved to have him found Sasuke while seconds ago, he had been worried at what kind of street maniac Sasuke had picked up that had a foul mouth too.

"In return, please take care of Sasuke, ne?" Kakashi asks sincerely.

"No sh^t!"

Kakashi gives off a wry smile that can't be seen, by the choice of words this blond keeps choosing, but nevertheless, a genuine smile follows by quickly.

"So... now that you're here then," Sasuke's voice falls from above and Kakashi cringes and looks up to face is student as he knows what's coming, "you are in charge of making dinner."

_I knew he was gonna say that..._ Kakashi sighs as his head drops down low.

Behind Kakashi's blind spot, Sasuke nods towards the twins, and they both nod back at him understandingly before they tug onto one part of Kakashi's clothing.

"Please~?" they both chorus sweetly accompanied by eager eyes that's all too adorable to reject.

"Okay~!" Kakashi obliges melodically as he stands up to get ready for their supper.  
Sasuke smirks victoriously while the twins give a double thumbs up.

All is seen by Naruto silently with an incredulous look at the actions of deceiving their teacher before he closes his heavy eyelids and fall into slumber.


	11. Part 11

**All Hearts**

* * *

**Part 11:**

* * *

"...urgh! no...mpf!...p-please...stop-ngh!"

Disturbing noises of foot meeting body is heard.  
The cries and the pleas are deaf to the ears.  
Suffering coughs bounce off the narrow walls.  
Sickening laughter reminds them of imprisonment.  
No average person should enter into the depths of the dark alley way where the cops wouldn't even dare to step into.  
It's like the entrance to the underworld.  
Step into it out of curiosity, and you can never return.

One blond teenaged boy casually walks through the said narrow alley way, grimacing at the sound of someone getting beaten up.  
Once he gets close enough to the sound, he sees an average business man crouching on the ground with heavily tattered clothes covering him which used to be a prompt business suit probably only just several minutes ago.  
Through the broken glasses, the man looks up at this blond boy in plea, begging him silently to help him out of this miserable state.  
Noticing the presence, the maniacal laughter stops and the offender turns his head round to the intruder.

What happens after this is a surprise to the victim.  
The offender would just smirk and step to one side, closer to the victim, while the blond walks past without the slightest interest showing upon his facial features.  
The victim loses hope when he sees the blond just entering further into the depths of the dark alley way and getting swallowed into the darkness.

* * *

"Yo, where da'hell do you always wander off to, huh?" a hoodied-guy asks as Naruto slaps a hand in greeting.

"Nowhere," he replies as he does the same to other members sitting around the small underground hideout with nothing but broken tables, chairs, washing machines, dryers, fridges and any big unusable houseware under one small light bulb dangling off a few wires.

"Nowhere my fuckin ass man!" he retorts.

Even with this junk-like atmosphere, this is where the blond most feels relaxed and at home, a place where he belonged.

"What the fuck's your problem? I'm here most of the time, and come back before the "hunt" don't I?" Naruto simply replies easily.

Of course there are so many things that he doesn't agree on, like what he had seen earlier at the entrance, but there's nothing he can do to stop it with his power, himself alone. It's just how this place works, and he just had to accept it without trying to even think about rebelling against the whole underworld here.

Too much energy and motivation among a whole lot of other things are needed for that, just like demos against governments, and Naruto is too uninterested about others to be able to point out something that seemed like a wrong thing to do.  
Ignoring what you don't want to see is what works best here and if you've lived here all your life, you know those rules and step aside.

"Today we're going to the town of grass and target the "S" shop. Just go with the usual plan, and if the security seems far strict than predicted, we'll go straight with plan B. Got it?" Team leader, Hyuuga, orders before Kiba gets to spit any other words accusingly at Naruto.

"So troublesome..."

"Fuck yeah!"

"...yes."

"Bring it on!"

"Mm."

And a few more replies come from every corner of the room.

Noticing one reply not heard, the hoodied-guy turns around to face Naruto.

"You're fuckin comin this time, right?" he says with a hint of annoyance.

"Yea man, Kiba. No fuck," Naruto replies with wary smile that goes unnoticed by said Kiba who changes his frowning face to a toothy grin, stretching his blood red cheek tattoos that identically ink down the side of his face.

Naruto personally doesn't like this "hunt" so he tends to skip out a lot, which then makes Kiba mad with disapproval, although none of the others seem to care.  
This is one of the least "harmless" methods to make money in order for street kids like them to survive and so as law-breaking as it is, they do it without hesitation.

What's wrong with stealing a bit of expensive jewellery and such from a store that probably can live carefree without a worry about living in starvation just from some few stolen goods?  
Just think of it as involuntary donation.  
That's what someone had once told Naruto, and he chants that in his mind as he goes out to break the law.

Most of their effort is sucked up by the people at the top of the pyramid, just like how the government sucks up taxes off every working person.  
There's no point in rebelling against the unfairness at that system, and there's nothing you can do anyway. Because even if you win and the system falls, there's nothing to support your life, to keep you living because as long as this system exists, you live.  
Without it, you just starve to death like all the other unfortunate kids thrown away, dumped on the side of an unknown street.

What he can't stand about the money making, is that most of the money is not spent on food, but on what's most expensive and holds all the power, driving the underworld system.

The drugs.

All his mates get equal shares in this. Only in so many grams which aren't enough to fill any empty stomach, but it gives the hallucinations, the happiness, and takes your mind off how empty your stomach is.  
Naruto had tried some a couple of times, but it doesn't feel right.  
Of course the duration of it is just as expected but the after effects are ugly, and he knows that by seeing many of the other drug addicts that parasitically roam around the maze-like dark alley helplessly and hopelessly.

Craving, hallucinating, scratching, itching and...

Naruto shakes his head. Before he knows it, the truck reaches the town of destination. Everybody holds metal pipes, chains and dangerous weapons to hopefully only break glasses and locks.  
He can feel the excitement run through the atmosphere inside the truck, given off by the others who look more than ready to prance at a helpless prey.  
They are all tiger-like carnivores, just silently waiting for the moment to strike.

Once the truck pulls to a stop, a signal is given from the driver and we all dash out of the truck to sprint towards the target shop.  
The first metal pipe hits the glass with a loud shattering noise and the deafening alarm starts blaring into our ears. It's only a matter of time before anyone serious comes to stop us, so less than a minute is the only time we have to grab whatever we can in the flashing red light.

More glasses shatter to the left and to the right while Naruto sweeps and gathers all the expensive looking jewellery from the top cabinet all to the bottom.  
Chaos happens while you're in a rush, and when adrenalin drives your body like a war-game in 3D, except, here you really do get injured and if you die, you die. No second chances or no reset buttons.

The cops already make it to the scene and starts shooting.  
We immediately retreat while trying to dodge the long-range shootings.  
With sheer luck, a bullet just grazes his arm as he slams himself onto the seat of the truck and the truck drives off at the speed of law-breaking limits.

"You okay man?" Kiba sitting directly opposite Naruto asks.

"Just a graze, fuck." Naruto waves it off.  
Visibly relaxing, Kiba then starts cackling followed by a chorus of cheers while others joining him for the great success.

Naruto grins as well, liking this moment when all his mates are laughing and showing the joy of the success and the relief of everyone surviving without any heavy injury.  
He likes his mates and this is how he had lived for as long as he can remember.  
It isn't like he can suddenly dump his life-long mates aside and change the way he had been living until now.

Sasuke probably already has an idea of this other life Naruto is living in.  
Even with a disapproval look he gets from that stoic guy sometimes, he doesn't say word about it, so for now, Naruto just manages to juggle with his double life.


	12. Part 12

**All Hearts**

**Part 12:**

* * *

A pair of eyes snaps open and leans slightly back before throwing himself forward and jump off the couch he had been sleeping on with a single jump.  
The room is dark and the moonlight slips between the gap of the curtains but isn't enough to lighten up the room and the objects that lie around, although this doesn't seem to be a problem for the just-woken blond who casually walks over, slips to the side, and grabs the jacket he had thrown to the side earlier in the afternoon.  
He quietly walks towards the front door when a voice comes from behind.

"Going off again this late?"

Turning around, with a sigh, the blond forces himself to stare back into those coal black eyes that only he would be able to see with his ability to visualise in this darkness.

"...yes," he replies truthfully.

"Why?"

"Sasuke, you know I can't tell you that," he sighs as he looks away to the side.  
And when he receives no reply, he takes a step towards the door again.

"You have a choice," Sasuke states as Naruto puts a hand on the doorknob.  
Naruto hesitates in his movements at these words before muttering back a reply.

"Yeah... and this is what I'm choosing."

Once the door closes and only leaves silence behind, Sasuke leans against the wall and sighs. The cold wall sends his back shivers just like the feeling he gets when he sees Naruto off.  
He just can't help but feel the same kind of feeling he had felt when he had once woken up much past midnight as a child, seeing his older brother sneak out of the house at that hour.

_"Where are you going?" _

It's what he had asked after watching his brother do this for months.  
His attitude had started becoming slightly off and Sasuke had slowly started to feel the neglect.

_"Nowhere. Now go back to bed, Sasuke."_

It hadn't been nowhere and Sasuke had known that it's a place where they slowly changed who his brother was and he had tried to prevent his older brother from going numerous times.

Failing each time.

_"Don't go tonight. Stay with me, nii-san."_

Always the same words came back at him. The words Sasuke hated hearing the most.

_"Sorry, Sasuke._

I don't have a choice."

"At least Naruto's being more honest than that idiot of a brother..." Sasuke mutters under his breath after sliding down to the floor.  
What haven't changed are the failing attempts that Sasuke keeps making.

Why couldn't he prevent anyone from leaving?  
Why is it so hard to keep a person at ones side all the time?

Why doesn't anyone listen to his words?

* * *

"Sasu nii...?" A drowsy adolescent voice comes from the door and Sasuke turns his head around as one of the twin rubs his eye sleepily, "it's cold for you to fall asleep there."

It makes Sasuke let out a quiet laugh, seeing that this little kiddo worrying about a fully grown guy like himself. Wonders of why and how incredulously little kids can make one grown man's lips crack into a smile, even those who hadn't smiled in years.

"What're you doing yourself, Nao?" Sasuke asks with a smile as he beckons Nao to his side.  
Nao patters over to Sasuke with caution as he tries not to trip over the over-sized t-shirt of Sasuke's that works as a nightie for him.

"I woke up and saw that Sao wasn't there..." Nao mumbles over Sasuke's shoulder when he gets pulled into a hug, but gets pulled back immediately.

"_What!?_"

Sasuke's eyes widen and he dashes towards their room, only to sigh in relief, and then start shaking his head with a smile playing upon his lips.

"Where are you looking at, Nao. Sao's right here," Sasuke tells Nao who comes in seconds later, to find Sasuke picking up the duvet all bunched in the corner of the bed where Sao is revealed from underneath.

"...uuh.. cold..." Sao mutters in his sleep as he feels the warmth of the blankets leave him.  
Sasuke picks him up and places back at the head of the bed where Nao climbs up and lies next to his brother before Sasuke covers the duvet back onto them neatly.

"Go back to sleep, Nao," Sasuke tells the one with eyes following Sasuke's movements.  
He receives a nod and smirks before closing the door behind him and heads to his own bedroom.  
For now, he tries to forget where Naruto is at and tries to get some sleep.  
Naruto had been living all his life like this. It shouldn't change and there's no reason why it should be the same as where his brother had been going and what he had been doing.

* * *

When Sasuke wakes up the next morning, he sees the usual blond sleeping in an idiotic manner on the couch and smirks, but the frowns when he notices traces of blood on Naruto's clothes.  
Sasuke pulls Naruto's sleeve up and find the small grazing wound and sighs at how careless the blond can be as to leaving an open wound untreated.  
He disinfects it making Naruto jump in alert but stopped short when with his arm held by Sasuke, stopping him half-way through the air.

"Oww _fuck!_ That fuckin stings! _What the hell are you doing to me!?_" Naruto screams, while Sasuke growls at him to stop fidgeting.

The identicals patter their way over from their beds at Naruto's voice and stares at the blond in fear and worry.

"Are you trying to _kill_ me!?" Naruto hollers with his eyes watering.

"The opposite actually," Sasuke replies with an exasperated sigh as he slaps a bandaid on the wound to complete his task, "because it may happen if you leave it untreated."

"I could have lived fine without the death sting!" Naruto scowled staring down at the treated arm, seeing if there's any damage done to it as equivalent as to how he had felt it. He won't be surprised if he sees a few huge needles sticking out of the wound because that's what it had felt like.

"If you don't want to feel that pain again, then I suggest you don't _make_ that kind of injury," Sasuke demands and then turns his head around to the two shaken boys, "so don't try and make any injury. Got it?"

The two boys nod their heads vigorously in fear as a satisfied raven-head walks over towards the kitchen to make breakfast.

"No wrist wounds or needle wounds either," Sasuke adds in a quiet murmur as he passes by Naruto.

"I wouldn't do anything to deliberately hurt myself!" Naruto growls back defensively, which earns a surprised look from the stoic raven as if he hadn't expected a comeback for that. But a relief somewhat washes down and drains some of his worries away.

"Good boy. Then you deserve ramen," Sasuke smirks at Naruto who's eyes lighten up at his words and jumps off the couch to sit on the counter seat.

"Mean!"

Seeing Naruto excited like that, makes the two little imps overcome with jealousy and they rush to Naruto's side pulling at his sleeves demanding ramen for them too.

"Nah, man. You little midgets need to eat more healthy food to grow up," Naruto replies as he pulls each of them up with one arm that they cling on to and place them on the counter seats beside him.

"But, but, but..." the twins chorus with puppy eyes at Naruto, making him waver with his decision.

"No 'buts'. You guys are having toast and milk," Sasuke demands as he stares hard into both of their eyes.

"Y-yes sir!" the twins reply in unison, relieving Naruto from the pressure of the two puppy eyes.  
Truth be told, they are smart enough to know that Naruto can easily be wavered while Sasuke is strict and will not bend with his decisions, ever.

Sasuke nods in satisfaction as he turns his back on them to continue making their breakfast while he thinks, _if only Naruto can be this obedient like the twins..._

...just like how obedient he had been with _his_ brother.

_"Sasuke. Never follow me.  
Never follow my path."_


End file.
